March 25, 2019
by Mary K. Briggs

Psalm 39  

Do you ever feel like the Psalmist crying out to God for help?  These words sound especially familiar to me:  “Hear my prayer, LORD, listen to my cry for help; do not be deaf to my weeping.” (v 12) 

In our lives, some days are more difficult than others, and when those tougher days come closer and closer together, it can seem to us that God does not hear our prayer, our cry for help. As each day progresses, we are likely to get more and more frustrated with God. In these times, I am reminded of Barbara Brown Taylor’s book “When God is Silent.” I discovered it at a time in my life when I couldn’t hear God.  I felt very alone in those particularly difficult days in my ministry.  Taylor’s book helped me realized that in those moments, I needed to wait for the God of Hope in which I believed. Oddly enough, I never doubted that God was there, and I never doubted my call. The waiting was excruciating some days.  Again, the Psalmist’s words rang true, “My hope is in you.” (v. 7) 

During these dark days of Lent when we are facing our mortality and our dependence on God, I pray that we can cling to the belief that our hope is in God, the one who hears our every prayer, our every cry.  Easter will be here soon!